Mailbag

Mailbag

Letters to Barron’s about workers missing from the labor force, the English orientation of Singaporean elites, the prospect for another Nasdaq bust, and Johnson’s Great Society.

March 27, 2015 11:15 p.m. ET

Lost Labor

To the Editor: In the March 16 Economic Beat column, “The Mystery of the Missing Workers,” Gene Epstein discussed the curious situation of a declining labor-force participation rate in an environment of growth in the economy and a decline in the rate of unemployment.

He omitted mention of the impact of the continuous growth in the number of felons and ex-felons in our adult society. That number, slightly below five...